When I worked at Conde Nast I would routinely find original artwork that had been repro'd for the magazines and never returned to the artist. On occasion it was stuff from cool artists like Spiegelman and Seth.

My absolute favorite score on this front was a huge pencil/ink drawing of some alien-like creature*, by Steve Cerio.

I had met Steve a few times when he was in Railroad Jerk and Drunk Tank, and was a big fan of his art. I felt bad that this had been destined for the dumpster, so I rescued it. I tracked down his contact info and called him one day, to tell him I found this piece of art and if he wanted it back, I would ship it to him. He told me to keep it.



* After looking at it for 30 minutes I couldn't figure out what it was, so I rolled it up. About a month later I was cleaning out my office and I started flipping through an Entertainment Weekly. There on the contents page was the same drawing I had rescued - albeit in color and much smaller. It was, much to my chagrin, JERRY GARCIA. Steve had done it on the occasion of his death.

How a piece of art from a Time/Life publication got into the Conde Nast offices I will never know.

I found this statement on the inside of a box of bananas.

-Amos

Amos-

That is excellent!

I found a fiance at work once.

At my old job, I used to find obscene pictures and notes on my desk frequently. I thought this was silly until one day I had to explain to my boss why I had a home-made collage of phone sex ads taped to the side of my monitor.

i've found a deep dislike of my coworkers and a very strong desire to quit my job.

Five pounds of sausage, which is currently in my freezer waiting to be cooked.

When I told my roommates what I'd brought home, they said, "Don't you work in a bookstore?" I do.

That sausage isn't waiting to be cooked it's wanting to be cooked.

By my mom. ...?

At my Job, there is a tech guy that builds equipment for our jobs. He has given me the following items, but as far as everyone knows, I FOUND them:

1. 2 486 computers

2. Enough audio software for a lifetime

3. A strange dynamic mic with no name, and a shure xlr mic adapter

4. Sony Handicam camcorder and tri-pod

5. Pinhole camera

6. Studio television recorder (MKII format)

7. Schematics for several bass pedals

8. Camera filters

I manage apt buildings in NYC and you wouldn't believe the stuff folks leave behind. I'll stick to audio related stuff.
More tube amps than I care to count: Fisher, H/K, Champion, Lafayette ...
More SS integrated amps that I care to count: Onkyo, Proton, Scott ...
A tube tester, 2 solder stations, 2 old ass tube longwave radios, lotsa turntables (my faves being a dual 1019 and a Kenwood KD-500).
A banjo, a 4-track (back when it was important to me), lotsa crappy guitars, a zither, a 58, a silverface bassman 70 head, an ampeg v4-b head, a FULL dj system (cd, mixer, amp, speakers), an Orange Matamp PA (since stolen), 2 teac 1/4 decks (prosumer), tons upon tons of monitors ...
My best: a traynor bassmate. My first one and the beginning of a traynor collecting frenzy.
My buddy works for a movie post production house and he has set me up with some wild freebies. Roadcases, patchbays, Atlas booms, an eventide harmonizer, an Ursa Major multi fx, and lots more.

I have a big bowl full of guitar picks I would find every day when opening up the bar I used to work at. I have tons... thin to thick... plastic, felt, metal.... some with the band's name on it or the guitarist's face....

full point wrote:I'd see a band called "Beaten to Death with a Sock full of Broken Glass and 'D' Batteries"

i was in a band that had a song called "Battery", about smashing someone's face in with a bag of dead batteries. it was a crowd favorite.